How have you made ogres more interesting?

[Ibram]

Ogres IMC almost always have levels, usualy as fighter / barbarians. Usualy encountered as mercenaries in the more civilized lands, though they are prone to banditry when not employed.

Though rarely encountered Oger spell casters are greatly feared, as they are skilled in the dark arts. Despite the danger there are many who seek them out for their wisdom.

 

[Intrope]

Oh yeah, and

3) It's perfectly okay to boff your sister.

Or just about anything else what-so-ever! How many different *species* did Zeus do, anyhow?

 

[arscott]

Reverse really. The women were human (or nymph or whatever). It was Zeus himself who took the form of all those different species.

 

[Nyaricus]

My giant entry is taking too long to do (There's a lot of in-campaign history behind it) so here's the Ogre one for now....

When the Giants (whose true name, in their (the Giant's) tongue is Fomorian) invaded Amneron (my worlds rough equivalent of Europe) they were repelled by humans and (eventually, once the humans sent out many scouts into the far territories) their elven allies. Dwarves were deep under the earth and at this point were not a prominant race above ground. The Fomorians had no desire to wage a large-scale campaign at this point - they simply wanted room enough to settle. So, the northern raiding party, which was ruled by the Prince of the Fomorians, sent out scouts who found the Orcs.

Orcs are Tolkienesque in my campaign. They were created by a god in forgotten times of evil, hatred and darkness, and the orcs were spiteful, decrepted (sp?) beings. The Prince traded many of his peoples daughters in return for help from the orcs, who were warmongers of the vilest sort. They had never heard of the elves before, living farther to the north, but swiftly set off war-parties to investigate the elven region of Angfalas further to the south, and east.

While the rest of the details are unimportant here, the orc and giant blood mixed from this trade off, and a new race which was bestial and warmongering like the orcs, but tall and very formidable in combat like Fomors was born. These monsters were called Ogres.

Many of these children were born, and this new races numbers swelled greatly, and the majority of ogres would live alongside orcs. This was, however, about 20,000 years ago However, in the past thousand or so years, the ogre population has greatly decresed, so much so that it's blood in thinning with further interbreeding with orcs. This new development is giving rise to another new race, nick-named "Orc-ogres", or "Orogs" by men, and who are smaller than ogres, but larger than orcs. [note: they are medium with Powerful Build, and only the name is really similar to this race from FR et al].

"True" ogres still exist, but they are less and less frequent, with this new race of Orogs on the rise. However, orcs still outnumber both, so it's hardly like either are dominating, and the Fomors have been in decline for millenia (sp?).

And yeah, those are Ogres in my games, and what I've done to "spice em up".

cheers,
--N

 

[ZeroGlobal2003]

Shadow Ogers

I was kind of inspired by this thread, and started looking at Ogres a bit more, and picked a template mostly at random for them; Lunar Creature from Denizens of Advanu. Gives them some DR, some resists, a couple minor abilities, and turns them into an outsider. Most importantly, it gives them a dimensional door effect that can only be used at night... and that got me thinking about ogres who might be a bit stealthier then their normal cousins. I came up with the following:

1. Give the Ogre elite stats focused on Dex and Int, lowest score in Strength.
2. Give the ogre hide and move silently as racial skills.
3. Recalculate the ogre's skill points using the new, higher Intelligence score.
4. Trade Toughness for Stealthy.

What you have is a fairly stealthy combatant that looses only a very minor bit of combat ability. I then tacked the lunar template back on, and spec'ed them out with some alternate gear (outsiders have access to all martial weapons, so I gave them a glaive instead of great club and swapped the weapon focus). Those changes bring them to CR 4 (3 +1 template... not sure the skill change and elite stats alone deserve another bump)

Now I envision these ogres and stealthy counterparts to their daylight cousins. Possessing grey skin and black hair, these ogres have fairer features and small horns, similar to those of an ogre magi. They hunt nocturnally and are known to move with a grace that is unsettling for a creature of their size. They wear dark clothing and carry silver symbols and weapons adorned with images of the moon and the stars.

All together more interesting then standard ogres, and I can see some deadly fights coming out of ogres who can gain the element of surprise and who can dimensional door to reposition themselves.

Zero

 

[Chimera]

IMLC, Ogres, or "Gorgs", were native to a cold, mountainous region far to the north, home of a Slavic human population.

I had introduced a number of them (200-ish), plus a handful of Ogre Magi (mutations that naturally lead the others) into the then current game region, through a spacial rift of unknown origin.

Of course, the Gorg reference then led to tales told by some of the slavic warriors who followed them through the rift, about the favorite prey of the Gorgs, furry little creatures known as Fraggles.

You don' know about de Fraggles?

Dance your cares away
Worries for some other day
Let de music play
Down at de Fraggle rock!

 

[frankthedm]

Heavy borrowing from the Old Warhammer ogres, less so from the newer "ogre kingdoms" material. The 3e Mutant Muppet image is not used.

The typical ogre in my setting stands roughly one and a half times as tall as a man and often many times as wide. While their appearance is more bestial than a human, with heavy brow, sometimes pointed ears, thick yellow to black finger nails and occasionally extended canines, they still appear more human than many half orcs. For scale and appearance, Mr. Hyde from Van Helsing is a decent approximation.

This handsome fellow is an example of how an ogre can look when not dump-stating charisma.

In behavior, ogres are generally more civilized than orcs or gnolls. Some even live in cities, such as in Glantri, Karameikos, Minrothad and Rockhome as mercenaries and laborers. A good number of ogres are enlisted in the foreign legion of Thyasis. The main things that set ogres apart mentally from humans is a greater degree of selfishness, overall laziness, and an inherent temper.

Their sometimes cannibalistic habits and ‘meat is meat’ attitude can be compared to lizard folk’s similar views, though ogres, having more empathy than lizard folk, swiftly learn that not all civilizations consider such behaviors acceptable. Many ogres don’t care for eating sentient beings, but most ogres would rather do so than go hungry.

The true elves consider them churlish brutes, only slightly worse than humans, but with far more potential for mayhem. Shadow elves consider them dangerous tools to be used as needed until dead. Dwarves typically view them as a threat; though as a practical matter will occasionally employ them as mercenaries, laborers and combat instructors. Those who “get with the program” can even find a place in Dwarven society. Humans are wary and prejudiced given that many ogres are willing to eat humans, but also can appreciate a mountain of meat when something needs to be built or a greater threat is present. Ratlings view them as too dangerous to be near, The skaven don’t trust most folks in the first place, especially not folks with large appetites and indiscriminate eating habits.

http://www.enworld.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=26962

 

[Baron Opal]

In Kherindal, the yarcha and the yarcha-toh, known commonly as goblins and hobgoblins, are a cursed race. In the past they had a mighty civilization but hubris and power-lust brought them low. Their god slain, the righteous were cast down, the faithful trampled into the dust. The victors pronounced a terrible curse which ensured that their children would be born deformed. So much so that only one child in ten would grow to adulthood. The rest would be either stillborn or stunted and deformed. Tragically, this would breed true, and the stunted ones would breed in the hills like maggots on offal; goblins would swarm out of the hills once or twice a decade looking for meat.

Although they looked different now, with orange skin and teeth of beasts, they were proud followers of their dead god. They used or groomed their children as best they could, but many had to be slain because of their new feral natures or hopeless deformities. Their magicians, arcane and divine alike, worked together to find a way to mitigate the curse. They discovered rituals that goblins (yarcha) could engage in, maturing and perfecting them so that they could become the person they were meant to be. It is a horrific and painful process, a wretched adolescence. But those that survive it, and not all do, gain wills of steel, the proud birthright of the hobgoblins (yarcha-toh). No promise of agony brings fear to their heart for they have already suffered the unwarping of bone and unknotting of muscle. What terror could sharp steel or hot iron truly bring?

The curse is not so easily outmanuvered. Most survive the process if they have the wit to understand and the courage to participate. Some are weak and die from the strain. A few, however, suffer tragically as something goes wrong. Their growth is accellerated and while the deformities are straightened layers of muscle are piled on the ever thickening frame. They grow to a great height and the light of wisdom never alights in their eyes. These unfortunates, the ogres (gorrum), are well taken care of by the yarcha-toh. while pitied, their great strength is taken advantage of for the clan's needs.

* * * * *​

Not only are ogres the cousins of the war-like hobgoblins, they can be encountered in plate armor with massive bronze war-hammers in one hand. They wield tower shields like the characters wield regular shields. A force of these guys is sure make my player's characters reconsider where they need to be at the moment.

 

[Wik]

Truth be told, I like ogres. I haven't had a chance to use one lately (I run STAP, so I'm stuck with what they give me, unless I wanna make some changes), but they area fun critter to use. I really like the idea of the "cave troll" in LOTR or "El Gigante" in Resident Evil 4: a giant bruiser with reach that fights while surrounded by low-level grunts.

However, a GM I played with a while ago loved ogres too much - he threw three ogres (with class levels) against a group of 3 level 4 PCs (with a group of 4 level 6 NPCs who were doing everything we do, but better) and pretty much TPK'ed us. It was, in fact, my worst experience with a GM, so that soured our group against ogres.

In fact, the term "throwing an ogre" has become a catchphrase in our group for when the GM throws a fight that the group cannot handle and takes enjoyment in the group's defeat.

That being said, they're great creatures. They can throw people in the stew pot, and say things like "yum yum, humans! Them's good eating, what?" and all that jazz. They're such bruisers in combat that everyone sees them and starts "thinking tactically" - stay out of their reach and fight for all your worth.

I think if you wanna make Ogres interesting, you have to put them in an interesting location. A decaying ruin site is perfect - the ogre can knock things down upon the PCs, and break stuff all around the group. PCs can hide from the ogre, who will curse them as it searches, and even take snipes at the creature.

At low levels, ogres make great "boss fights".

 

[Li Shenron]

What have you done to make ogres more interesting (and perhaps more mythic) in your campaign?

Since MM Ogres are low-CR creatures, class levels and templates work wonder on them